Wed update: Pier closed, flu shots, Kooky party, poker, Trolley Stop Market and more

Memphistanista reported on her blog this morning that The Pier has closed. The Pier was located on Wagner, facing the river just south of Union. It had been open since 1977. Memphistanista commented that she was surprised it remained open as long as it did – she hadn’t been there in 15 years. I often wondered the same thing about the Pier – never had anything against the place, but it just wasn’t on my radar because it was off the beaten path. The only time I ever went in there was to get drinks during Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest. Even though it wasn’t one of my hangouts, it’s always a sad thing to see a Downtown business close.

I saw on the event listings for today at DowntownMemphis.com that free H1N1 shots are being given at Calvary today from 5 to 7. Not sure if this is open to the general public or focused mainly on the homeless (Calvary does a lot of outreach work), but if you need a shot, you might want to check this out.

There will be a “Stars and Stetsons Kickoff Party” at Kooky Canuck on Saturday, January 30. This will be a free event with no cover to kick off the upcoming Stars and Stetsons party to benefit the Alzheimer’s Foundation. You can join Brian Elder from KIX 106 and pay only $1.06 for Bud Light from 8 PM to 2 AM. Nashville band The Mulch Brothers, who will headline the Stars and Stetsons party, will take the stage at 10.

A new tournament cycle begins tonight in Bardog’s weekly poker tournament in the Underdog Room. In addition to weekly prizes, you can accumulate points toward a grand prize over a period of several weeks. You get points for finishing in one of the top 6 spots in the tournament, and you also get points just for showing up, for bringing a friend who has never played in the Underdog Room before, and for answering the trivia question in Poker Jon’s weekly e-mail.

The Woot-off continues on Woot.com. I want some crap dammit! I’m refreshing Woot throughout the day hoping to catch it when they put Bag of Crap on sale.

There’s a new market called Trolley Stop Market that will open at 704 Madison in April. Their listing on Facebook reads, “TSM is committed to promoting, selling, & serving locally grown food & artisan goods. Breakfast & lunch available Monday – Friday 7:00 – 3:00 pm. Look for local veggies, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, herbs, plants, flowers, grains, breads, granola, honey, beef, poultry, pork, seafood, skincare, pottery, candles, & much more.” You can become a fan of the market on Facebook to keep up with the latest updates.

Looks like snow and ice is in the forecast for Friday. Wintry mix conditions seem to bring out the worst in everybody in this town. You have the people who drive down the highways like they’re in a demolition derby. You have the people who panic and buy months-long supplies of bread and milk at the grocery store. You have the people who complain that Kriner Cash is the devil when he doesn’t close the City Schools when the first flake falls. And then on the other side of the coin, you have people who needlessly stress everyone out with their “Memphians are lazy and just use ice and snow as an excuse to get a free day off, nut up and shut up” BS. Reading the comments in any CA article related to winter weather just makes me hate everyone.

Plans for tonight:  Hmmm don’t know.  I want to get a couple of hours in on PokerStars, but there’s no reason I couldn’t take the netbook somewhere and have a beer while I play.